platy died in quarantine--now what?

[lordpet]

Hello,

I recently decided to add four platys to my 29 gallon tank, which currently houses an angelfish and a pleco. A week into quarantine, a platy died. The other three look ok still, didn't notice anything obviously wrong with the dead one, except that it was dead. What do I do now? How long should I keep them all in quarantine? Should I treat the tank with anything?

On a side note, are there good places to buy fish off the internet? I've got like an 80% mortality rate on fish from the local petsmart.

Also, any ideas on small fish that will coexist with the angelfish are welcome. I was thinking tetras but I don't want the angelfish's fins to get nipped.

thanks

 

[my_fish77]

Well I have 3 platys (2 adult and a fry). I don't think you would need to do quarantine on them though, because every so often you get one that will die. maybe from old age or wounds etc. If you see nothing wrong with the fish it probably was nothing.
Wait a few more days to see if they are okay.

 

[Masha]

Quarantining new fish is always a great idea. Excellent that you are doing that. Even high quality fish shops can get fish-diseases in their stock and you don't want to introduce those to your "permanent" tank.

Test your quarantine tank's water to make sure the problem is not water quality.

If there were no symptoms, it's possible there was something wrong with that fish, something that won't spread to your other fish. But keep a close eye on them.

Another thing that might contribute, is simply the act of moving the fish, stresses them. How did you go about introducing the fish to the tank? Sometimes doing that too abruptly can shock them enough to kill them, especially if they are already stressed.

 

[lordpet]

Thanks for responses. I introduced the fish by letting their bag adjust to the water temp of the tank for awhile. They all seemed fine, although I did notice one of them not eat on Saturday when I fed them. May have been the one who checked out, they kinda look the same. I also did a water change Saturday, maybe I should do another.

 

[Masha]

Floating the bag so the temperature matches is good, but you also need to allow the fish time to adjust to your tank's water, which might have different ph, etc.

Adding a bit of your tank's water to the bag, slowly, and then pouring some out, adding a bit more, and so on makes it easier on the fish to adjust. Also if you can, avoid adding the water the fish came with to your tank.

Not saying this would have made a difference to this particular fish you lost, who knows what happened there.

 

[Grish]

On a side note, are there good places to buy fish off the internet? I've got like an 80% mortality rate on fish from the local petsmart. Also, any ideas on small fish that will coexist with the angelfish are welcome. I was thinking tetras but I don't want the angelfish's fins to get nipped. thanks

I have used both aquariumfish.net and Inland Aquatics and have been pleased with all the fish I have gotten from them